Facilitating wide view video conferencing through a drone network

ABSTRACT

Embodiments are provided for facilitating a wide-view video conference through a UAV network. For facilitating the wide-view video conference, UAVs can be employed to capture and transmit video data at locations of parties involved in the wide-view video conference. One or more UAVs in the UAV network can be instructed to locate the party&#39;s location and zoom-in onto the party&#39;s location. In some examples, the UAV(s) can be equipped with a 360 degree video camera such that a wide-area covered by the 360 degree video can be captured. The video data can be transmitted to a video data processing center in real-time or substantially in real-time. The video data transmission by the given UAV to the video data processing center can be through a UAV network. The video stream can be output at a location of a given party in the video conference.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority to U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 62/274,112, filed on Dec. 31, 2015, the disclosure ofwhich is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for allpurposes.

The present application is related to the following co-pending U.S.Nonprovisional Patent Applications: U.S. Nonprovisional application Ser.No. ______ (Attorney Docket No. 101534-0969605 (004920US) filedconcurrently herewith; U.S. Nonprovisional application Ser. No. ______(Attorney Docket No. 101534-0969607 (004940US) filed concurrentlyherewith; U.S. Nonprovisional application Ser. No. ______ (AttorneyDocket No. 101534-0969608 (004950US) filed concurrently herewith; andU.S. Nonprovisional application Ser. No. ______ (Attorney Docket No.101534-0969609 (004960US) filed concurrently herewith. The entiredisclosures of each of these applications are hereby incorporated byreference in their entireties for all purposes.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates to facilitating video conferencingthrough unmanned aerial vehicle, and more specifically to facilitatingwide-view video conferencing through self-sustaining unmanned aerialvehicle.

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone and alsoreferred by several other names, is an aircraft without a human pilotaboard. The flight of UAVs may be controlled either autonomously byonboard computers or by the remote control of a pilot on the ground orin another vehicle. UAVs have mostly found military and specialoperation applications, but also are increasingly finding uses in civilapplications, such as policing, surveillance and firefighting, andnonmilitary security work, such as inspection of power or pipelines.UAVs are adept at gathering an immense amount of visual information anddisplaying it to human operators. However, it can take a great deal oftime and manpower to interpret the information gathered by UAVs. In manycases, the information gathered by UAVs is misinterpreted by humanoperators and analysts who have a limited time window in which tointerpret the information.

Video conferencing is generally known in the art. Multiple parties cancommunicate with each other through video and audio in a videoconference. Conventional video conference facilitating technologiestypically require a fixed camera placed in a place where each party islocated during the video conference. For video output, the view of otherparties on a screen at one party's location is often limited due to thecamera placements and field of view at the other parties' location.Moreover, typically only one camera is used to capture a view at aparty's location during the video conference, and thus the field of viewof that party can be limited to the size of that camera's field of view.This presents a challenge particularly when the party has presentersduring the video conference scattering around across a room. Theconventional video conference technologies typically cannot capturepresenters scattering around at one location at once.

SUMMARY

Embodiments are provided for facilitating a wide-view video conferencethrough a UAV network. For facilitating the wide-view video conference,UAVs, for example drones can be employed to capture and transmit videodata at locations of parties involved in the wide-view video conference.For capturing video data of a location where a party of the videoconference is located, one or more UAVs in the UAV network can beinstructed to locate the party's location and zoom-in onto the party'slocation. In some implementations, the UAV(s) may be instructed to moveclose to the party's location and find an angel so that a clear view ofthe party's location can be captured. The UAV(s) can be equipped withone or more video cameras. In some examples, the UAV(s) can be equippedwith a 360 degree video camera such that a wide-area covered by the 360degree video can be captured. In some examples, the individual UAV(s)may simply carries a camera either fixed on the UAV at a certain anglewith respect to the UAV or may be rotated around.

Once video data is captured by a given UAV zoomed-in onto a givenparty's location, the video data can be transmitted to a video dataprocessing center in real-time or substantially in real-time. The videodata transmission by the given UAV to the video data processing centercan be through a UAV network. For example, the video data can be firsttransmitted to a controller that controls the given UAV, and from thatcontroller, the video data can be relayed to the video processing centervia a wired or wireless network. As mentioned above, the video datatransmitted to the video processing center can include a wide field ofview of the location of the party zoomed-in onto by the given UAV. Insome implementations, the video processing center can be configured toprocess the wide-view video data received from the given UAV forpresentation onto a display. In some implementations, the videoconference center can be configured to provide capability to host thevideo conference and to route video data the parties in the videoconference.

For outputting a video stream at a location of a given party in thevideo conference, a display may be equipped with a network connection.For example, the display can receive video data from the videoprocessing center through the network connection. In someimplementations, the display may be operatively connected to a computingdevice and the computing device may be configured to receive the videodata from video processing center through the network connection.

In one embodiment, at least one party of the video conference is locatedin a transportation apparatus, such as a car. The transportationapparatus may have at least one cabin. In that embodiment, thetransportation apparatus is equipped with a wide-view display such as adashboard covered by a LCD screen. In that embodiment, one or more UAVscan be instructed to zoom-in onto the transportation apparatus tocapture a wide view of the cabin. In that embodiment, the other party orother parties in the video conference may include another transportationapparatus. In this way, a wide-view video conference between movingtransportation apparatus can be established

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art based on the following drawings and detaileddescription.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a furtherunderstanding of the invention, are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention andtogether with the detailed description serve to explain the principlesof the invention. No attempt is made to show structural details of theinvention in more detail than may be necessary for a fundamentalunderstanding of the invention and various ways in which it may bepracticed.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary UAV network in accordance with thedisclosure.

FIG. 2 conceptually illustrates facilitating a wide-view videoconference using UAVs in accordance with the disclosure.

FIG. 3, illustrates an example of a controller shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary method for instructing a UAV to capturean interior of a vehicle is illustrated.

FIG. 4 illustrates another example of a communication protocol that canbe used to communicate information to a given vehicle via a UAV and aprocessing station shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a video processing center shown in FIG.2.

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary method for hosting a wide-view videoconference.

FIG. 7 illustrates a simplified computer system, according to anexemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

In the appended figures, similar components and/or features may have thesame numerical reference label. Further, various components of the sametype may be distinguished by following the reference label by a letterthat distinguishes among the similar components and/or features. If onlythe first numerical reference label is used in the specification, thedescription is applicable to any one of the similar components and/orfeatures having the same first numerical reference label irrespective ofthe letter suffix.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Various specific embodiments of the present disclosure will be describedbelow with reference to the accompanying drawings constituting a part ofthis specification. It should be understood that, although structuralparts and components of various examples of the present disclosure aredescribed by using terms expressing directions, e.g., “front”, “back”,“upper”, “lower”, “left”, “right” and the like in the presentdisclosure, these terms are merely used for the purpose of convenientdescription and are determined on the basis of exemplary directionsdisplayed in the accompanying drawings. Since the embodiments disclosedby the present disclosure may be set according to different directions,these terms expressing directions are merely used for describing ratherthan limiting. Under possible conditions, identical or similar referencenumbers used in the present disclosure indicate identical components.

UAVs are well suited for applications where the payload consists ofoptical image sensors such as cameras with powerful lightweight sensorssuited for a variety of commercial applications such as surveillance,video conferencing, vehicle positioning, and/or any other applications.A UAV in accordance with the disclosure can collect multi-spectralimagery of any object in an area covered the UAV. In certainembodiments, the UAV in accordance with the disclosure can fly up to65,000 feet and can cover as much as 500 km in range. One motivation ofthe present disclosure is to employ UAVs to facilitatevideo-conferencing involving at least one transportation apparatus, suchas an automobile, a bus, or a train. One or more UAVs can be employed tocapture video images of an interior of the transportation apparatus,such as a cabin of the transportation apparatus. Since UAV can beconfigured to move at a speed consistent with a speed of thetransportation apparatus above the transportation apparatus, videoimages of the transportation apparatus can be restively simply capturedby the UAV when the transportation apparatus moves.

Another advantage of using the UAV to capture video images of a movingtransportation apparatus is that the UAV equipped with a wide-view,e.g., 360 degree, camera, can be used to capture wide-view video imagesof an interior of the transportation apparatus so along as there isclear view of the interior of the transportation apparatus from the UAV.The wide-view video data can be transmitted from the UAV to a videoprocessing center via a ground controller of the UAV network. Afterbeing processed by the video processing center, the wide-view videoimages of the interior of the transportation apparatus can betransmitted to other parties for presentation. In this way, a wide-viewvideo conference can be facilitated. In some implementations, multipleparties of the video conference include two or more transportationapparatus. In those implementations, wide-view video conference betweenmultiple transportation apparatus can be facilitated.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary UAV network 100 for facilitatingcommunications for a vehicle in accordance with the disclosure. Asshown, the UAV network 100 can comprise multiple UAVs 102, such as UAVs102 a-f. It should be understood the UAV network 100, in certainembodiments, can comprise hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousandsof UAVs 102. The individual UAVs 102 in UAV network 100, such as UAV 102a, can fly above the ground, between 50,000 to 65,000 feet altitude.However, this is not intended to be limiting. In some examples, some orall of the UAVs 102 in the UAV network 100 can fly at hundreds orthousands feet above the ground. As shown, the individual UAVs 102 inthe UAV network 100 can communicate with each other throughcommunication hardware carried by or installed on UAVs 102. For example,the communication hardware onboard a UAV 102 can include an antenna, ahigh frequency radio transceiver, an optical transceiver, and/or anyother communication components for long range communications. Acommunication channel between any two given UAVs 102 in UAV network 100,for example, UAV 102 c and UAV 102 d, can be established.

One way of establishing a communication channel between any two givenUAVs is to have them autonomously establish the communication channelthrough the communication hardware onboard the two given UAVs 102. Inthis example, UAVs 102 a, 102 b and 102 c are neighboring UAVs such thatthey cover neighboring areas 104 a, 104 b, and 104 c respectively. Theycan be configured to communicate with each other once they are within athreshold distance. The threshold distance can be the maximumcommunications range of the transceivers onboard the UAVs 102 a, 102 b,and 102 c. In this way, UAVs 102 a, 102 b, and 102 c can send data toeach other without an access point.

Another way of establishing a communication channel between any twogiven UAVs 102 in UAV network 100 is to have them establishcommunication channel through a controller. As used herein, a controllermay be referred to as a piece of hardware and/or software configured tocontrol communications within UAV network 100. The controller can beprovided by a ground processing station, such as ground controller 110a, 110 b, or 110 c. For instance, the controller can be implemented by acomputer server housed in a controller 110. In certain embodiments, thecontroller can be provided by a UAV 102 in the UAV network 100. Forinstance, a given UAV 102, such as an unmanned helicopter or a balloon,in the UAV network 100 can carry payloads including one or more of aprocessor configured to implement the controller. In any case, thecontroller can be configured to determine network requirements based onan application supported by UAV network 100, and/or to perform any otheroperations. In implementations, control signals can be transmitted via acontrol link from the controller to the UAVs 102 shown in FIG. 1.

As mentioned above, an important criteria to a UAV 102 in the network isaltitude. However, as the UAV 102 altitude increases, the signalsemitted by UAV 102 becomes weaker. A UAV 102 flying at an altitude of65,000 feet can cover an area up to 100 kilometers on the ground, butthe signal loss can be significantly higher than would occur for aterrestrial network. Radio signals typically requires a large amount ofpower for transmission in long distance. On the other end, the payloadscan be carried by a UAV 102 that stays in the air for an extended periodof time is limited. As mentioned above, solar energy can be used topower the UAV 102. However this limits the weight of payloads that canbe carried by a UAV 102 due to the limited rate at which solarirritation can be absorbed and converted to electricity.

Free-space optical communication (FSO) is an optical communicationtechnology that transmits light in free space to wirelessly transmitdata for telecommunications. Commercially available FSO systems use wavelength close to visible spectrum around 850 to 1550 nm. In a basispoint-to-point FSO system, two FSO transceivers can be placed on bothsides of transmission path that has unobstructed line-of-sight betweenthe two FSO transceivers. A variety of light sources can be used for thetransmission of data using FSO transceivers. For example, LED and lasercan be used to transmit data in a FSO system.

Lasers used in FSO systems provide extremely high bandwidths andcapacity, on par with terrestrial fiber optic networks, but they alsoconsume much less power than microwave systems. A FSO unit can beincluded in the payloads of a UAV 102 for communication. The FSO unitcan include an optical transceiver with a laser transmitter and areceiver to provide full duplex bi-directional capability. The FSO unitcan use a high-power optical source, i.e., laser, and a lens to transmitthe laser beam through the atmosphere to another lens receiving theinformation embodied in the laser beam. The receiving lens can connectto a high-sensitivity receiver via optical fiber. The FSO unit includedin a UAV 102 in accordance with the disclsoure can enable opticaltransmission at speeds up to 10 Gbps.

Also shown in FIG. 1 are vehicles 106 a-f. A given vehicle 106 can beequipped with communication hardware. The communication hardware in thegiven vehicle 106 can include a FSO unit described above, a radiotransceiver, and/or any other type of communication hardware. Thecommunication hardware included in the vehicle 106 can be used toestablish a communication channel between the vehicles 106 via the UAVs102. A controller 110 can include a FSO unit configured to establish acommunication channel FSO unit through laser beam. Through thecommunication channel, UAV 102 can be configured to communicate itsgeo-locations to controller 110. Since ground controller 110 isstationary, the geo-location of ground controller 110 can bepreconfigured into an onboard computer in UAVs 102. Through the groundcontroller 110, information intended for vehicle 106 can be forwarded tovehicle 106. The ground controller 110 can be connected to a wired orwireless network. Information intended for vehicle 106 can becommunicated through the wired or wireless network from or to anotherentity connected to the wired or wireless network. The informationintended for vehicle 106 can be first communicated to the UAV 102through laser beam, and the UAV 102 can forward the information tovehicle 106 through laser beam 204 a.

In implementations, for locating a vehicle 106, a tracking signal can betransmitted from UAV 102 for tracking vehicle 106. The tracking signalcan be in various forms. For example, the UAV 102 may scan the coveredarea 104 with a camera aboard UAV 102 in a predetermined pattern. Forexample, the UAV 102 may scan the covered area 104 in a scan linefashion from on one corner of the covered area 104 to the oppositecorner of the covered area 104. As another example, the UAV 102 may scanthe covered area 104 in a concentric sphere fashion starting from anouter sphere within the covered area 104, gradually into inner sphereswithin the covered area 104 until the center of the covered area 104.Still as another example, the UAV 102 may scan the covered area alongpredefined lines of areas 104, for example a portion of a road thatenters area 104 and another portion of the road that exits area 104. Incertain embodiments, the UAV 102 may carry a radio transmitterconfigured to broadcast in radio signals within the covered area 104. Inthose examples, the broadcast radio signals can serve as trackingsignals such that once they are intercepted by a vehicle 106 passingthrough the covered area 104, the UAV 102 can be configured to locationa position of the vehicle 106 within the covered area 104.

An identification of the vehicle 106 can be captured after the vehicle106 has been tracked by UAV 102. In certain implementations, theidentification of the vehicle 106 can be captured by a camera carried bythe UAV 102. For example, the UAV 102 may be configured to capture apicture of a license plate of vehicle 106 once it has been tracked. Asanother example, the UAV 102 may be configured to transmit a request tovehicle 106 to inquire about its identification, and the vehicle 106 cansend its identification to the UAV 102 in response to the request.

Any one of the UAVs 102 shown in FIG. 1 may be instructed to “monitor”or “zoom-in onto” a corresponding vehicle 106. For example, the UAV 102a may receive location information regarding vehicle 106 a andinstructions to zoom-in onto vehicle 106 a. In that example, in responseto receiving such location information and instructions, the UAV 102 amay be configured to track vehicle 106 a based on the received locationinformation. The may involve moving the UAV 102 a into a vicinity ofvehicle 106 a such that UAV 102 a has a clear view of vehicle 106. Aswill be discussed below, the instructions received by UAV 102 a mayinclude capturing video images of interior of vehicle 106 a. Forachieving this, UAV 102 a may be equipped with one or more cameras. Insome embodiments, the camera(s) carried by UAV 102 a may include awide-view camera capable of capturing a wide field of view. In oneembodiment, the wide-view camera carried by UAV 102 a is anomnidirectional camera with a 360-degree field of view in a horizontalplane, or with a visual field that covers (approximately) the entiresphere.

In some embodiment, the cameras carried by UAV 102 a may includemultiple cameras fixed at corresponding locations on an underbody of UAV102 a. In one embodiment, the multiple cameras may be arranged on theunderbody of UAV 102 a to form a ring. In one configuration, 8 camerasare used to form such a ring. One or more of those cameras can beemployed to capture the interior of vehicle 106 a depending on adistance between UAV 102 a and vehicle 106 a, an angle between the two,and/or any other factors. For example, three cameras in the ring may beemployed by UAV 102 a to capture video images of the interior of vehicle106 a. In some implementations, individual cameras carried by UAV 102 amay have panoramic view capability. For example, various types ofpanoramic view cameras may be carried by UAV 102 a, including shortrotation, full rotation, fixed lens, and any other types of panoramicview cameras.

With UAV network 100, UAVs 102, vehicle 106 and controller 110 a havingbeen generally described, attention is now directed to FIG. 2, whichconceptually illustrates facilitating a wide-view video conference usingUAVs in accordance with the disclosure. As shown, individual UAVs 102 inthe UAV network 100 can be instructed to capture video images ofinterior of a vehicle 102 as described above. In FIG. 2, it is shownthat UAV 102 a, on a request, can be positioned such that it capturesvideo images of the interior of vehicle 106 a. The video images capturedby UAV 102 a may include wide-view video of the interior of vehicle 106a. For example, UAV 102 a may be configured to capture 360 video of theinterior of vehicle 106 a using one or more 360 degree camera asdescribed above. In implementations, in response to an instruction tocapture video images of vehicle 106 a received, for example fromcontroller 110 a, UAV 102 a can be configured to be positioned such thatUAV 102 a has a clear line of sight with respect to vehicle 106 a. Insome implementations, the position of UAV 102 a with respect to vehicle106 a can be adjusted based on the video images of vehicle 106 a ascaptured by UAV 102 a. For instance, when the video images aredetermined not to show a wide-view of the interior of vehicle 106 a, theUAV 102 a can be instructed to reposition itself until acceptablequality of wide-view video images of the interior of vehicle 106 a arereceived. This may involve instructing the UAV 102 a to adjust itsangle, distance, speed, and/or any other aspects with respect to vehicle106 a.

As also shown, UAV 102 a can be configured to transmit video data to acorresponding controller 110 a via UAV network in a communication waydescribed above. For example, the video data may be first transmitted toanother UAV 102 in proximity to UAV 102 a. For instance, that UAV 102may have more computing power or capability than UAV 102 a, which may bea lightweight UAV configured to follow moving vehicles and to capturevideo images of interiors of the moving vehicles. In that example, theUAV with more computing power can be used as a relay station to relayvideo data from UAV 102 a to controller 110 a for further processing ofthe video data.

The controller 110 a may be configured to 1) communicate controlinstructions with the video processing center 202 and with the UAV 102a; 2) receive video data from UAV 102 a; 3) transmit the video data fromthe UAV 102 a to the video processing center 202; and/or to perform anyother operations. The communications between the controller 110 a andvideo processing center 202 may follow a video conferencing protocol,such as the H.323 protocol. H.323 is well understood in the art, anddetails of this protocol will not be repeated herein. In short, thecontroller 110 a may server as an interface between UAV 102 a and videoprocessing center 202 for facilitating the wide-view video conferencingin accordance with the disclosure. In implementations, thecommunications between the controller 110 a and video processing center202 may include receiving video conferencing instructions from the videoprocessing center 202, transmitting video data captured by UAV 102 a tovideo processing center 202, transmitting video conferencing data to thevideo processing center 202. For example, controller 110 a may beconfigured to receive instructions from video processing center 202indicating a video conferencing call is to be initiated with a specificvehicle, such as vehicle 106 a. In that example, the controller 110 acan be configured to generate an instruction to instruct a correspondingUAV, such as UAV 102 a to locate vehicle 106 a and to capture videoimages of vehicle 102 a to facilitate the video conference requested byvideo processing center 202. Once a video conferencing connection isestablished between UAV 102 a and video processing center 202 via thecontroller 110 a, the controller 110 a can transmit the video datareceived from UAV 102 a to the video processing center 202. In someimplementations, the controller 110 a can also be configured to transmitconference data such as data loss indications, data packets received sofar, synchronization messages, and/or any other video conferencing datato the video processing center 202 to facilitate the wide-view videoconferencing.

The video processing center 202 can be configured to 1) host a wide-viewvideo conference in accordance with the disclosure; 2) communicate videoconference instructions to controller 110 a; 3) receive video data fromcontroller 110 a; 4) process video data from controller 110 a tofacilitate a wide-view video conference; 5) communicate controlinstructions with controller 110 a; 6) transmit process video data toother party or parties in the video conference hosted by the videoconference center 202; and/or to perform any other operations. Hosting awide-view video conference by the video processing center 202 mayinclude receiving a request from a party to establish a wide-view videoconference with one or more other parties. For example, the videoprocessing center 202 can be configured to receive a request from avehicle 106 a to establish a wide-view video conference with anothervehicle 106. Such a request may be received by video processing center202 via network 204, which may include a wired and/or a wirelessnetwork. For instance, network 204 can include the Internet. In thatexample, vehicle 106 a may be configured to make a video conference callto video processing center 202 via network 204. In response to receivingsuch a request, the video processing center 202 may be configured toinitiate a wide-view video conference by generating control instructionson its own. For example, the control instructions generated by videoprocessing center 202 can include instructing a controller 110 acorresponding to the other vehicle 106 as requested by 102 a to capturevideo images of the other vehicle 106. In another example, videoprocessing center 202 can be configured to receive a request from acomputing device to initiate a wide-view video conference call with thevehicle 106 a. For instance, such a request may be received from a videoconference device in an office building, where the wide-view videoconference request is made by a party of one or more people located inan office in the office building. In that example, the video processingcenter 202 may generate control instructions to controller 110 a to haveit generate control instructions to capture wide-view video images ofthe interior of the vehicle 106 a.

In any case, video processing center 202 can be configured tocommunicate control instructions with controller 110 a via network 204.The control instructions may include instructions transmitted by videoprocessing center 202 to request the controller 110 a to generateinstructions to capture wide-view video images of the interior ofvehicle 106 a. The control instructions may include instructionstransmitted by controller 110 to indicating various status of videoimage capturing for vehicle 106 a, such as data packets received so far,data packets lost so far, and/or any other control instructions tofacilitate video processing center 202 to process and/or synchronizevideo data from controller 110 a. In some implementations, the controlinstructions may include instructions transmitted by video processingcenter 202 requesting the controller 110 to terminate wide-view videoimage capturing of vehicle 106 a. In some implementations, the controlinstructions may include instructions transmitted by video processingcenter 202 indicating various statistics regarding video processingcenter 202. For example, the video processing center 202 may beconfigured to transmit control instructions to controller 110 indicatingits throughput rate, its current CPU load, its current threads availableand/or any other statistics to assist the controller 110 to determine aquality of wide-view video images that should be captured by UAV 102 a.

As mentioned above, video processing center 202 can be configured toprocess video data received from controller 110. The video processing byvideo processing center 202 may include synthesizing the video data togenerate a wide-view of the interior of vehicle 102 a. For example, asdescribed above, in some embodiments, the UAV 102 a may be equipped withmultiple cameras configured to capture a subject from different angles.In those embodiments, the video data received from controller 110 caninclude video images captured by those cameras in separate channels. Forinstance, a first camera of UAV 102 a can be configured to capture theinterior of vehicle 106 a from a first angle; a second camera of UAV 102a can be configured to capture the interior of vehicle 106 a from asecond angle, and so on. The video data received from controller 110 maybe in a form such that the video images of the interior of the vehicle106 a as captured by the first camera is in a first channel, videoimages of the interior of the vehicle 106 a as captured by the secondcamera is in a second channel, and so on. In those embodiments, thevideo processing center 202 may be configured to assemble the videoimages transmitted in the different channels to form wide-view videoimages of the vehicle 106 a.

In some implementations, the video processing by the video processingcenter 202 can include synchronizing the video data received fromcontroller 110. Since the UAV network 110 and/or network 204 may be“best effort” network, video data transmitted through those networks maybe out of sequence when they are received video processing center 202.In those embodiments, the video processing center 202 may be configuredto process the video data received from controller 110 to ensure thepackets received from controller are in sequence. In some examples,certain video packets may be lost along the way when transmitted tovideo processing center 202. In those examples, the video processingcenter 202 may be configured to instruct controller 110 to retransmitthe lost video packets. In some implementations, video processing center202 may be configured to assemble video feeds for different parties inthe wide-view video conference to form a combined view of those parties.For example, when the wide-view video conference includes more than twoparties, the video processing center 202 may be configured to combinefeeds from two of those parties for transmission to a given party in thewide-view video conference. In some implementations, video processingcenter 202 may be configured to combine video data received fromcontroller 110 with audio data. For instance, the video processingcenter 202 can be configured to receive audio data for vehicle 106 afrom network 204. For instance, the audio portion of the wide-viewconference can be captured using a recording device such as microphoneplaced within vehicle 106 a, and the captured audio data can betransmitted to video processing center 202 via the network 204. In thatexample, after receiving the audio data from vehicle 106 a, the videoprocessing center 202 can be configured to synchronize the video andaudio data for transmission to one or more other parties in thewide-view conference.

As also mentioned above, the video processing center 202 may beconfigured to output video images of wide-view video images of one ormore parties to a given party in the wide-video conference hosted by theprocessing center 202. For example, one party in the wide-view videoconference may be vehicle 106 a, a second party in the wide-view videoconference may be another vehicle, such as vehicle 106 b, a third partyin the wide-view video conference may be one or more people in an officelocated in a building using a video conferencing device, and/or anyother party or parties. In that example, the video processing center 202may be configured to combine feeds from the second party and the thirdparty to form wide-view video images of those parties and transmit thecombined video images to vehicle 106 a via network 204. Vehicle 102 amay be equipped with one or more wide-view displays for outputting thewide-view video images received from the video processing center 202.For example, in one implementation, the vehicle 106 a may be equippedwith a dashboard covered by a LCD screen. In that example, the videoimages for the second and third parties as received from the videoprocessing center 202 can be output the dashboard LCD screen tofacilitate person or people within vehicle 106 a to have the wide-viewconference with the second and third parties. Similarly, videoprocessing center 202 may be configured to combine the wide-view videodata from UAV 102 a and the video feed from second party for output tothe video conferencing device in the office. For example, the videoconferencing device may include a panoramic display with a wide screen.

Attention is now directed to FIG. 3, where an example of controller 110is shown. As shown, the controller 110 may include one or more of aprocessor 302 configured to execute program components. The programcomponents may include a communication component 304, a UAV controlcomponent 306, a control instruction component 308, a video datacomponent 310, and/or any other components. The communication component304 can be configured to communicate with a video processing center,such as video processing center 202 shown in FIG. 2. In someimplementations, the communications between the controller 110 and videoprocessing center 202 may follow a video conferencing protocol, such asthe H.323 protocol. In those implementations, the communicationcomponent 304 may be configured with H.323 protocol stack to performcommunication with video processing center 202 accordingly. Thecommunication between the controller 110 and video processing center 202may include a request from the video processing center 202. The requestmay indicate that a wide-view video conference involving a vehicle, suchas vehicle 106 a is being facilitated by video processing center 202 andthe controller 110 is requested to capture wide-view video images of theinterior of the vehicle 106 a.

The UAV control component 306 can be configured to locate a vehicle asrequested in the request for a wide-view video conference. For example,after receiving the request from video processing center 202 for awide-view video conference involving vehicle 106 a, the UAV controlcomponent 306 can be configured to identify whereabouts about thevehicle 106 a. In some implementations, the UAV control component 306may be configured to obtain locations regarding the vehicle 106 afterthe vehicle 106 a is requested, for example in the wide-view videoconference request from the video processing center 202. For instance,GPS information regarding the locations of vehicle 106 a may beperiodically transmitted to controller 110 or may be stored in alocation database operatively connected controller 110. As anotherexample, locations of vehicle 106 may be identified through UAV network.For instance, UAV control component 306 may be configured to send abroadcast message to one or more UAVs within proximity of controller 110for locating UAV 106 a. The UAV control component 306 may be configuredto receive location information regarding vehicle 106 a from a givenUAV, such as UAV 102 a after the broadcast message having been sent.

The control instruction component 308 can be configured to generate acontrol instruction. The control instruction generated by controlinstruction component 308 can include an instruction instructing a UAV,such as UAV 102 a, to capture wide-view video images of the interior ofa vehicle, such as vehicle 106 a. The control instruction generated bycontrol instruction component 308 can include an instruction indicatinga status of the video capturing of the interior of vehicle 106 a to thevideo processing center 202. Such a control instruction can betransmitted to the video processing center 202 to assist the processingby the video processing center 202.

The video data component 310 can be configured to receive video datafrom a UAV and transmit the received data to a video processing center202 for further processing of the received video data. The video datacomponent 310 can be configured to receive the video data from the UAV,such as UAV 102 a via the UAV network 100. After receiving the videodata from UAV 102 a, the video data component 310 can be configured totransmit the received video data simultaneously or substantiallysimultaneously to the video processing center 202 for furtherprocessing.

Attention is now is directed to FIG. 4 where an exemplary method forinstructing a UAV to capture an interior of a vehicle is illustrated.The particular series of processing steps depicted in FIG. 4 is notintended to be limiting. It is appreciated that the processing steps maybe performed in an order different from that depicted in FIG. 4 and thatnot all the steps depicted in FIG. 4 need be performed. In certainimplementations, the method 400 may be implemented by a controller in aUAV network, such as the controller shown in FIG. 3.

In some embodiments, the method depicted in method 400 may beimplemented in one or more processing devices (e.g., a digitalprocessor, an analog processor, a digital circuit designed to processinformation, an analog circuit designed to process information, a statemachine, and/or other mechanisms for electronically processinginformation). The one or more processing devices may include one or moredevices executing some or all of the operations of method 400 inresponse to instructions stored electronically on an electronic storagemedium. The one or more processing devices may include one or moredevices configured through hardware, firmware, and/or software to bespecifically designed for execution of one or more of the operations ofmethod 400.

At 402, a request to capture wide-view video of a transportationapparatus is received. In some implementations, operations involved in402 can be implemented by a communication component the same as orsubstantially similar to the communication component 304 illustrated anddescribed herein.

At 404, the transportation apparatus can be located through an UAV.Operations involved in 404 may include generating an instruction toinstruct the UAV to locate the transportation apparatus, such as thevehicle 106 a. In some implementations, operations involved in 404 canbe implemented by a communication component the same as or substantiallysimilar to the communication component 304 illustrated and describedherein.

At 406, an instruction instructing the UAV to capture wide-view videoimages of the interior of the transportation apparatus is generated. Insome implementations, operations involved in 406 can be implemented by acontrol instruction component the same as or substantially similar tothe control instruction component 308 illustrated and described herein.

At 408, video data can be received from the UAV. In someimplementations, operations involved in 408 can be implemented by avideo data component the same as or substantially similar to the videodata component 310 illustrated and described herein.

At 410, the video data received at 408 can be transmitted to a videoprocessing center for further processing. In some implementations,operations involved in 410 can be implemented by a video data componentthe same as or substantially similar to the video data component 310illustrated and described herein.

Attention is now directed to FIG. 5, where an example of videoprocessing center 202 is shown. As shown, the video processing center202 may include one or more of a processor 502 configured to executeprogram components. The program components may include a videoconference request component 504, an addressing component 506, a UAVcommunication component 508, a video component 510 and/or any othercomponents. The video conference component 504 can be configured toreceive a request for initiating a wide-view video conference. This mayinclude receiving the request from a party to establish a wide-viewvideo conference with one or more other parties. For example, the videoconference component 504 can be configured to receive the request from avehicle 106 a to establish a wide-view video conference with anothervehicle 106. Such a request may be received by video conferencecomponent 504 via network 204, which may include a wired and/or awireless network. For instance, network 204 can include the Internet. Inthat example, vehicle 106 a may be configured to make a video conferencecall to video conference component 504 via network 204.

The addressing component 506 can be configured to identify an address ofa party involved in the video conference as indicated in the requestreceived by video conference component 504. This may include identifyinga reachable address of the party. For example, when the party is avehicle, the addressing component 506 can be configured to identifywhich controller 110 may be responsible for controlling communicationswith and/or video capturing of the vehicle. As another example, when theparty is a landline conference device, the address component 506 can beconfigured to determine an internet address of the landline conferencedevice. In implementations, the addressing component 506 can beconfigured to communicate with a directory server for determine oridentify a reachable address of the party.

The UAV communication component 508 can be configured to communicatewith a UAV controller via a network, such as the network 204.Communication by UAV communication component 508 with the UAV controllercan include communicating control instructions generated by the videoprocessing center 202 to UAV controller. For example, in response toreceiving a request to initiate a wide-view video conference asdescribed, the video processing center 202 may be configured to initiatea wide-view video conference by generating control instructions on itsown. For example, the control instructions generated by video processingcenter 202 can include instructing a controller 110 a corresponding tothe other vehicle 106 to capture video images of the other vehicle 106.Such control instructions can be communicated to the controller 110 bythe communication component 508 via the network 204. In someimplementations, the control instructions may include instructionsrequesting the controller 110 a to terminate wide-view video imagecapturing of vehicle 106 a. In some implementations, the controlinstructions may include instructions transmitted by video processingcenter 202 indicating various statistics regarding video processingcenter 202. For example, the video processing center 202 may beconfigured to transmit control instructions to controller 110 indicatingits throughput rate, its current CPU load, its current threads availableand/or any other statistics to assist the controller 110 to determine aquality of wide-view video images that should be captured by UAV 102 a.

The video data component 510 can be configured to process video datareceived from a UAV controller. The video processing by video datacomponent 510 may include synthesizing the video data to generate awide-view of the interior of a transportation apparatus. For example, asdescribed above, in some embodiments, a UAV may be equipped withmultiple cameras configured to capture a subject from different angles.In those embodiments, the video data received from controller 110 a caninclude video images captured by those cameras in separate channels. Forinstance, a first camera of UAV 102 a can be configured to capture theinterior of vehicle 106 a from a first angle; a second camera of UAV 102a can be configured to capture the interior of vehicle 106 a from asecond angle, and so on. The video data received from controller 110 amay be in a form such that the video images of the interior of thevehicle 106 a as captured by the first camera is in a first channel,video images of the interior of the vehicle 106 a as captured by thesecond camera is in a second channel, and so on. In those embodiments,the video data component 506 may be configured to assemble the videoimages transmitted in the different channels to form wide-view videoimages of the vehicle 106 a.

In some implementations, the video processing by the video datacomponent 510 can include synchronizing the video data received fromcontroller 110. Since the UAV network 110 and/or network 204 may be“best effort” network, video data transmitted through those networks maybe out of sequence when they are received video data component 510. Inthose embodiments, the video data component 510 may be configured toprocess the video data received from controller 110 a to ensure thepackets received from controller are in sequence. In some examples,certain video packets may be lost along the way when transmitted tovideo data component 510. In those examples, the video data component510 may be configured to instruct controller 110 a to retransmit thelost video packets. In some implementations, video data component 510may be configured to assemble video feeds for different parties in thewide-view video conference to form a combined view of those parties. Forexample, when the wide-view video conference includes more than twoparties, the video data component 510 may be configured to combine feedsfrom two of those parties for transmission to a given party in thewide-view video conference. In some implementations, video datacomponent 510 may be configured to combine video data received fromcontroller 110 with audio data. For instance, the video data component510 can be configured to receive audio data for vehicle 106 a fromnetwork 204. For instance, the audio portion of the wide-view conferencecan be captured using a recording device such as microphone placedwithin vehicle 106 a, and the captured audio data can be transmitted tovideo data component 510 via the network 204. In that example, afterreceiving the audio data from vehicle 106 a, the video data component510 can be configured to synchronize the video and audio data fortransmission to one or more other parties in the wide-view conference.

Attention is now is directed to FIG. 6 where an exemplary method forhosting a wide-view video conference. The particular series ofprocessing steps depicted in FIG. 6 is not intended to be limiting. Itis appreciated that the processing steps may be performed in an orderdifferent from that depicted in FIG. 6 and that not all the stepsdepicted in FIG. 6 need be performed. In certain implementations, themethod 600 may be implemented by a video processing center, such as thevideo processing center shown in FIG. 5.

In some embodiments, the method depicted in method 600 may beimplemented in one or more processing devices (e.g., a digitalprocessor, an analog processor, a digital circuit designed to processinformation, an analog circuit designed to process information, a statemachine, and/or other mechanisms for electronically processinginformation). The one or more processing devices may include one or moredevices executing some or all of the operations of method 600 inresponse to instructions stored electronically on an electronic storagemedium. The one or more processing devices may include one or moredevices configured through hardware, firmware, and/or software to bespecifically designed for execution of one or more of the operations ofmethod 600.

At 602, a request to initiate a wide-view video conference involving atransportation apparatus is received. In some implementations,operations involved in 602 can be implemented by a video conferencerequest component the same as or substantially similar to the videoconference request component 506 illustrated and described herein.

At 604, A UAV controller is communicated for capturing wide-view videodata of a transportation apparatus. In some implementations, operationsinvolved in 604 can be implemented by a UAV communication component thesame as or substantially similar to the UAV communication component 508illustrated and described herein.

At 606, wide-view video data from the UAV controller can be received. Insome implementations, operations involved in 606 can be implemented by aUAV communication component the same as or substantially similar to theUAV communication component 508 illustrated and described herein.

At 608, video data received at 606 can be processed. In someimplementations, operations involved in 608 can be implemented by avideo data component the same as or substantially similar to the videodata component 510 illustrated and described herein.

At 610, the video data processed at 608 can be transmitted to a party ofthe wide-view video conference for presentation. In someimplementations, operations involved in 610 can be implemented by avideo data component the same as or substantially similar to the videodata component 510 illustrated and described herein.

FIG. 7 illustrates a simplified computer system that can be usedimplement various embodiments described and illustrated herein. Acomputer system 700 as illustrated in FIG. 7 may be incorporated intodevices such as a portable electronic device, mobile phone, or otherdevice as described herein. FIG. 7 provides a schematic illustration ofone embodiment of a computer system 700 that can perform some or all ofthe steps of the methods provided by various embodiments. It should benoted that FIG. 7 is meant only to provide a generalized illustration ofvarious components, any or all of which may be utilized as appropriate.FIG. 7, therefore, broadly illustrates how individual system elementsmay be implemented in a relatively separated or relatively moreintegrated manner.

The computer system 700 is shown comprising hardware elements that canbe electrically coupled via a bus 705, or may otherwise be incommunication, as appropriate. The hardware elements may include one ormore processors 710, including without limitation one or moregeneral-purpose processors and/or one or more special-purpose processorssuch as digital signal processing chips, graphics accelerationprocessors, and/or the like; one or more input devices 715, which caninclude without limitation a mouse, a keyboard, a camera, and/or thelike; and one or more output devices 720, which can include withoutlimitation a display device, a printer, and/or the like.

The computer system 700 may further include and/or be in communicationwith one or more non-transitory storage devices 725, which can comprise,without limitation, local and/or network accessible storage, and/or caninclude, without limitation, a disk drive, a drive array, an opticalstorage device, a solid-state storage device, such as a random accessmemory (“RAM”), and/or a read-only memory (“ROM”), which can beprogrammable, flash-updateable, and/or the like. Such storage devicesmay be configured to implement any appropriate data stores, includingwithout limitation, various file systems, database structures, and/orthe like.

The computer system 700 might also include a communications subsystem730, which can include without limitation a modem, a network card(wireless or wired), an infrared communication device, a wirelesscommunication device, and/or a chipset such as a Bluetooth™ device, an702.11 device, a WiFi device, a WiMax device, cellular communicationfacilities, etc., and/or the like. The communications subsystem 730 mayinclude one or more input and/or output communication interfaces topermit data to be exchanged with a network such as the network describedbelow to name one example, other computer systems, television, and/orany other devices described herein. Depending on the desiredfunctionality and/or other implementation concerns, a portableelectronic device or similar device may communicate image and/or otherinformation via the communications subsystem 730. In other embodiments,a portable electronic device, e.g. the first electronic device, may beincorporated into the computer system 700, e.g., an electronic device asan input device 715. In some embodiments, the computer system 700 willfurther comprise a working memory 735, which can include a RAM or ROMdevice, as described above.

The computer system 700 also can include software elements, shown asbeing currently located within the working memory 735, including anoperating system 740, device drivers, executable libraries, and/or othercode, such as one or more application programs 745, which may comprisecomputer programs provided by various embodiments, and/or may bedesigned to implement methods, and/or configure systems, provided byother embodiments, as described herein. Merely by way of example, one ormore procedures described with respect to the methods discussed above,such as those described in relation to FIG. 7, might be implemented ascode and/or instructions executable by a computer and/or a processorwithin a computer; in an aspect, then, such code and/or instructions canbe used to configure and/or adapt a general purpose computer or otherdevice to perform one or more operations in accordance with thedescribed methods.

A set of these instructions and/or code may be stored on anon-transitory computer-readable storage medium, such as the storagedevice(s) 725 described above. In some cases, the storage medium mightbe incorporated within a computer system, such as computer system 700.In other embodiments, the storage medium might be separate from acomputer system e.g., a removable medium, such as a compact disc, and/orprovided in an installation package, such that the storage medium can beused to program, configure, and/or adapt a general purpose computer withthe instructions/code stored thereon. These instructions might take theform of executable code, which is executable by the computer system 700and/or might take the form of source and/or installable code, which,upon compilation and/or installation on the computer system 700 e.g.,using any of a variety of generally available compilers, installationprograms, compression/decompression utilities, etc., then takes the formof executable code.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that substantialvariations may be made in accordance with specific requirements. Forexample, customized hardware might also be used, and/or particularelements might be implemented in hardware, software including portablesoftware, such as applets, etc., or both. Further, connection to othercomputing devices such as network input/output devices may be employed.

As mentioned above, in one aspect, some embodiments may employ acomputer system such as the computer system 700 to perform methods inaccordance with various embodiments of the technology. According to aset of embodiments, some or all of the procedures of such methods areperformed by the computer system 700 in response to processor 710executing one or more sequences of one or more instructions, which mightbe incorporated into the operating system 740 and/or other code, such asan application program 745, contained in the working memory 735. Suchinstructions may be read into the working memory 735 from anothercomputer-readable medium, such as one or more of the storage device(s)725. Merely by way of example, execution of the sequences ofinstructions contained in the working memory 735 might cause theprocessor(s) 710 to perform one or more procedures of the methodsdescribed herein. Additionally or alternatively, portions of the methodsdescribed herein may be executed through specialized hardware.

The terms “machine-readable medium” and “computer-readable medium,” asused herein, refer to any medium that participates in providing datathat causes a machine to operate in a specific fashion. In an embodimentimplemented using the computer system 700, various computer-readablemedia might be involved in providing instructions/code to processor(s)710 for execution and/or might be used to store and/or carry suchinstructions/code. In many implementations, a computer-readable mediumis a physical and/or tangible storage medium. Such a medium may take theform of a non-volatile media or volatile media. Non-volatile mediainclude, for example, optical and/or magnetic disks, such as the storagedevice(s) 725. Volatile media include, without limitation, dynamicmemory, such as the working memory 735.

Common forms of physical and/or tangible computer-readable mediainclude, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk,magnetic tape, or any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, any other opticalmedium, punchcards, papertape, any other physical medium with patternsof holes, a RAM, a PROM, EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip orcartridge, or any other medium from which a computer can readinstructions and/or code.

Various forms of computer-readable media may be involved in carrying oneor more sequences of one or more instructions to the processor(s) 710for execution. Merely by way of example, the instructions may initiallybe carried on a magnetic disk and/or optical disc of a remote computer.A remote computer might load the instructions into its dynamic memoryand send the instructions as signals over a transmission medium to bereceived and/or executed by the computer system 700.

The communications subsystem 730 and/or components thereof generallywill receive signals, and the bus 705 then might carry the signalsand/or the data, instructions, etc. carried by the signals to theworking memory 735, from which the processor(s) 710 retrieves andexecutes the instructions. The instructions received by the workingmemory 735 may optionally be stored on a non-transitory storage device725 either before or after execution by the processor(s) 710.

The methods, systems, and devices discussed above are examples. Variousconfigurations may omit, substitute, or add various procedures orcomponents as appropriate. For instance, in alternative configurations,the methods may be performed in an order different from that described,and/or various stages may be added, omitted, and/or combined. Also,features described with respect to certain configurations may becombined in various other configurations. Different aspects and elementsof the configurations may be combined in a similar manner. Also,technology evolves and, thus, many of the elements are examples and donot limit the scope of the disclosure or claims.

Specific details are given in the description to provide a thoroughunderstanding of exemplary configurations including implementations.However, configurations may be practiced without these specific details.For example, well-known circuits, processes, algorithms, structures, andtechniques have been shown without unnecessary detail in order to avoidobscuring the configurations. This description provides exampleconfigurations only, and does not limit the scope, applicability, orconfigurations of the claims. Rather, the preceding description of theconfigurations will provide those skilled in the art with an enablingdescription for implementing described techniques. Various changes maybe made in the function and arrangement of elements without departingfrom the spirit or scope of the disclosure.

Also, configurations may be described as a process which is depicted asa schematic flowchart or block diagram. Although each may describe theoperations as a sequential process, many of the operations can beperformed in parallel or concurrently. In addition, the order of theoperations may be rearranged. A process may have additional steps notincluded in the figure. Furthermore, examples of the methods may beimplemented by hardware, software, firmware, middleware, microcode,hardware description languages, or any combination thereof. Whenimplemented in software, firmware, middleware, or microcode, the programcode or code segments to perform the necessary tasks may be stored in anon-transitory computer-readable medium such as a storage medium.Processors may perform the described tasks.

Having described several example configurations, various modifications,alternative constructions, and equivalents may be used without departingfrom the spirit of the disclosure.

For example, the above elements may be components of a larger system,wherein other rules may take precedence over or otherwise modify theapplication of the technology. Also, a number of steps may be undertakenbefore, during, or after the above elements are considered. Accordingly,the above description does not bind the scope of the claims.

As used herein and in the appended claims, the singular forms “a”, “an”,and “the” include plural references unless the context clearly dictatesotherwise. Thus, for example, reference to “a user” includes a pluralityof such users, and reference to “the processor” includes reference toone or more processors and equivalents thereof known to those skilled inthe art, and so forth.

Also, the words “comprise”, “comprising”, “contains”, “containing”,“include”, “including”, and “includes”, when used in this specificationand in the following claims, are intended to specify the presence ofstated features, integers, components, or steps, but they do notpreclude the presence or addition of one or more other features,integers, components, steps, acts, or groups.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for facilitating a wide-view videoconference via an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) network, the methodbeing implemented in one or more of a processor configured to executeprogrammed components, the method comprising: receiving a request tocapture wide-view video of a transportation apparatus; locating thetransportation apparatus in response to receiving the request;generating a control instruction to instruct an UAV to capture thewide-view video of the wide-view transportation apparatus; receivingvideo data from the UAV; and transmitting the video data to a videoprocessing center.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the transportationapparatus includes a vehicle.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein thewide-view video include video images of an interior of thetransportation apparatus.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprisingcommunicating the control instruction to the video processing center viaa network.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the request is receivedfrom the video processing center.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein thevideo data is received from the UAV via the UAV network.
 7. The methodof claim 1, wherein the video data is transmitted to the videoprocessing center via a wireless and/or wired network.
 8. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising generating a message indicating a status ofvideo capturing of the transportation apparatus by the UAV andtransmitting the message to the video processing center via a wiredand/or a wireless network.
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprisingreceiving a request to terminate the video capturing of thetransportation apparatus by the UAV.
 10. A method for facilitating awide-view video conference via an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) network,the method being implemented in one or more of a processor configured toexecute programmed components, the method comprising: receiving arequest to initiate a wide-view conference involving a transportationapparatus; communicating with a UAV controller to capture a wide-viewvideo of a transportation apparatus in response to receiving therequest; receiving the wide-view video from the UAV controller;processing the wide-view video data; and transmitting the processed thewide-view data to another party involved in the wide-view videoconference for presentation.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein thetransportation apparatus includes a vehicle.
 12. The method of claim 10,wherein the wide-view video include video images of an interior of thetransportation apparatus.
 13. The method of claim 10, further generatinga control instruction to instruct the UAV controller to terminate thevideo capturing of the transportation apparatus and transmitting thecontrol instruction to the UAV controller.
 14. The method of claim 10,wherein the request is received from the transportation apparatus viathe wireless and/or wired network.
 15. The method of claim 10, whereinthe request is received from the another party via the wireless and/orwired network.
 16. The method of claim 10, wherein the video dataincludes different channels and processing the video data includescombining the different channels.
 17. The method of claim 10, furthercomprising generating a message indicating a status of the videoprocessing and transmitting the message to the UAV controller via awired and/or a wireless network.
 18. The method of claim 10, furthercomprising generating an instruction to instruct the UAV controller toimprove a quality of the wide-view video of the transportationapparatus.